Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 11-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hofheinz (US 2011/0273139 ).
Regarding claim 11, Hofheinz teaches a monitoring device (see 26, Figs. 1-3) for a high-voltage onboard electrical system of an electrically operable vehicle (para 0004-0006; Fig. 1), wherein the high-voltage onboard electrical system comprises: a high-voltage energy storage device (see 14, Fig. 1); an electrically positive charge line which is couplable to a positive electric voltage of a charging device via a charging connection in order to charge the high-voltage energy storage device (see line from 16 to 22,12 I1; Fig. 2); and an electrically negative charge line which is couplable to a negative electric voltage of the charging device via the charging connection in order to charge the high-voltage energy storage device (see line from 16 to 22,12; I2; Fig. 2);
wherein high-voltage energy storage device is couplable to the electrically positive charge line and the electrically negative charge line (see Fig. 2) ;
the monitoring device (see 26) comprising: a control unit (see 58) with a current sensor (see 40 summation current transformer) that is configured to determine a sum of respective electric currents of the electrically positive charge line and of the electrically negative charge line (see para 0017, 0018 and 0030-0033); wherein the control unit is configured to separate the electrically positive charge line and the electrically negative charge line from the high-voltage onboard electrical system upon a detection of a fault (see para 0017, 0018 and 0030-0033).
Regarding claim 12, Hofheinz teaches wherein the current sensor is configured to determine the sum via a common magnetic field of the electrically positive charge line and of the electrically negative charge line (see para 0017, 0018 and 0030-0033).
Regarding claim 13, Hofheinz teaches wherein the current sensor is an open-loop Hall sensor or a magnetoresistive sensor or a transformer (see 40, Fig. 2 and 3).
Regarding claim 14, Hofheinz teaches further comprising a first switching element and a second switching element disposed respectively in the electrically positive charge line and the electrically negative charge line , wherein the electrically positive charge line and the electrically negative charge line are separable from the high-voltage onboard electrical system by the first switching element and the second switching element upon the detection of the fault (see positive and negative switch inside 28 and para 0030-0032; Fig. 2 and 3).
Regarding claim 15, Hofheinz teaches wherein the control unit is configured to infer the detection of the fault from a temporal profile of a current integral of the sum (see 0015, 0031 and 0035-0037).
Regarding claim 16, Hofheinz teaches a method for operating the monitoring device according to claim 11, comprising the steps of: determining the sum of the respective electric currents of the electrically positive charge line and of the electrically negative charge line by the current sensor ; and separating the electrically positive charge line and the electrically negative charge line from the high-voltage onboard electrical system when the control unit detects the fault (see para 0017, 0018 and 0030-0033).
Regarding claim 17, Hofheinz teaches wherein the fault is inferred from a temporal profile of a current integral of the sum (see para 0017, 0018 and 0030-0033).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hofheinz.
Regarding claim 18, Hofheinz teaches the method as claimed in claim 17.
Yet does not disclose wherein a value of the current integral is set to zero upon each change of a current direction of the sum.
However, The claim would have been obvious because setting a current integral value to zero upon each change of a current direction of the sum in order to effectively transform the system from measuring the net accumulated change (displacement) to measuring the absolute accumulated change, that is crucial for distinguishing between normal operation and a fault condition and part of the ordinary capabilities of a person of ordinary skill in the art, in view of the teaching of the technique for improvement in other situations such as determining faults within an AC system.
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hofheinz in view of Blakely (US 2009/0085573).
Regarding claim 19, Hofheinz teaches the method as claimed in claim 17.
Yet does not disclose wherein the fault is inferred from a comparison of an absolute value of the current integral to a prescribed threshold value.
However, Blakely in same field of sensors teaches the fault is inferred from a comparison of an absolute value of the current integral to a prescribed threshold value (see para 0038).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Hofheinz with the teachings of Blakely by having the fault is inferred from a comparison of an absolute value of the current integral to a prescribed threshold value in order to provide simplicity and reliability, low computational complexity and providing faster response time.
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hofheinz in view of Haun (US 6,246,556).
Regarding claim 20, Hofheinz teaches the method as claimed in claim 17.
Yet does not disclose wherein the current integral is filtered in order to compensate for an offset error during the determining.
However, Haun in the same field of detection of electrical faults in an electrical circuit teaches the current integral is filtered in order to compensate for an offset error during the determining (see col 6 line 30-55).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Hofheinz with the teachings of Haun by having the current integral is filtered in order to compensate for an offset error in order to prevent accumulation of errors, ensuring accuracy and maintaining system stability and reliability.
Conclusion
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/ELIM ORTIZ/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2836